- Paperback: 353 pages
- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1 edition (Oct 7 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 015601209X
- ISBN-13: 978-0156012096
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 14 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 386 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #783,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Verbatim, says the language quarterly's editor, Erin McKean, is "a magazine about all of the fun parts of English and linguistics, written for people who don't necessarily have a Ph.D." This collection of pieces culled from the quarterly is like a candy shop for word lovers. John Tittensor writes about unfortunate last names, Philip Michael Cohen discloses the secret lingo of tiddlywinks players, Pete May explores British football chants, and Jesse Sheidlower reports on the revising of his book The F-Word. Steve Bonner considers "the language as it will never be used," dreaming up evocative word combinations so unlikely that they'd never be uttered: "rotating strawberry madonna," "angry tuba gravy." McKean claims to like "that 'bad English' exists." She also maintains that one should resist correcting the grammar of others. "The easiest way to put your own utterances under intense scrutiny," she warns, "is to toss off a thoughtless public correction of someone else's." --Jane Steinberg
From Publishers Weekly
For lovers of the intricacies of language comes an anthology of the best writing from Verbatim: The Language Quarterly, which has been investigating, debating, and dissecting English for almost 30 years. Erin McKean, the magazine's editor since 1997, has collected lively essays on popular linguistics, dictionaries and the men and women who make them, English etymology and usage, and, of course, obscenity. From a consideration of "student bloopers" to a disquisition on the nature of slang, these thoughtful and often humorous offerings provide insight into the sophisticated systems of human communication in language that's appropriately fresh and, thankfully, jargon-free.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
When someone starts complaining to me about grammar, I listen intently. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
When someone starts complaining to me about grammar, I listen intently. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
A disappointment,
By
This review is from: Verbatim: From the Bawdy to the Sublime, the Best Writing on Language for Word Lovers, Grammar Mavens, and Armchair Linguists (Paperback)
I bought this book because I saw a review by Michael Quinion (www.worldwidewords.org). Although I enjoyed many of the essays in the book, the book was so poorly organized, I found myself very frustrated while reading it. Just a few editorial changes would have greatly improved it. It should have an index. The essays should be identified by the date they were published in the quarterly. Short intros to each essay providing some context and updating of the subject matter, as appropriate, would have made a big impact with a small amount of work on the part of the editor.
5.0 out of 5 stars
So much fun that you'll want to read it quarterly..,
By fnordian "fnordian" (Boulder, Colorado) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Verbatim: From the Bawdy to the Sublime, the Best Writing on Language for Word Lovers, Grammar Mavens, and Armchair Linguists (Paperback)
A friend of mine, knowing I'm a student of linguistics, lent me this book, and I'm glad she did; it was one of the most fun, yet relaxing, books I've read in some time. The majority of the essays are funny, and those that aren't are at least interesting (though I confess that there were a few of them I simply didn't care for, it was more than made up for by the others.) The format makes it perfect for short bursts of recreation, especially if you just have a bit of time to kill on the bus or while waiting for something.. it's an excellent book to be read in pieces (and would make a good "bathroom book", come to think of it.) Like other reviewers here, I enjoyed this book so much that I decided to subscribe to the periodical, and I would recommend it to linguists, grammarians and anyone else who enjoys language.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderful Collection of Witty and Fascinating Essays,
By Gregory Lavoie (Manchester, NH United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Verbatim: From the Bawdy to the Sublime, the Best Writing on Language for Word Lovers, Grammar Mavens, and Armchair Linguists (Paperback)
This book is a fine compilation of the best essays published in the periodical "Verbatim: The Language Quarterly". The book is devoted to celebrating the bizarre aspects of language (mostly concerning English). Most of the essays are humorous in nature, though many of them are educational and eye opening. Topics such as dialects, dictionaries, grammar, jargon, naming, obscenities, and wordplay are covered in great detail. The section on non-English is especially interesting, which explains Japanese onomatopoeia, Spanish dialects and an odd Welsh dictionary. An essential book for linguists, though most people should find this book enjoyable.
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